1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to printers, and more particularly to serial printers which include a rotatable print element.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Serial printers which include a print element in the shape of disk or cup are known in the art. In general, such printers can be divided into two types. In the first type, the print element is constantly rotating and printing takes place on the fly. In the second type, the print element stops and starts and printing takes place while the print element is stationery.
An example of a serial printer with a constantly rotating print element can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 3,461,235 (Wilcox), and a serial printer with a print element that stops before printing occurs is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,707,214 (Panzo).
Serial printers where the print element is in the shape of a cup are also known. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,651,916 (Becchi) shows at FIG. 3 a print element with a rotatable print element in the shape of a cup. The cup has two rows of characters around its perihpery and the entire cup is raised and lowered to select between the rows of characters. It is specifically noted that the fingers on the print element shown in this patent cannot be individually raised and lowered.
A publication in the Electronics Magazine, dated June 26, 1975, page 17E, also shows a printer with a cup-like print element wherein each finger has a plurality of characters thereon. The entire cup shown in this reference is raised and lowered to select different characters. (It is noted that applicants' date of invention precedes the date of this publication.)
United Kingdom Pat. No. 1,190,506 also shows a rotatable print element which has several rows of characters. The entire print element is raised and lowered to select between the rows of characters. It is noted that the print element in this patent does not include fingers which can be individually raised and lowered.